Lading blocking device



Nov. 12, 1957 H. L. REHEIS 2,812,728

LADING BLOCKING DEVICE Filed June 29, 1953 United States Patent LADING BLOCKING DEVICE Harry Lee Reheis, St. Louis, Mo., assignor to Car Blocking Incorporated, St; Louis, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application June 29, 1953,,Serial $10,364,813. Claims. (Cl. 105369) The invention relates to blocking angles or anchoring chocks for preventing shifting of lading during travel in vehicles suchas railway rolling.stock,.automotive trucks, ships, and the like.

One object of the invention is toxformthe blocking angle inexpensively of sheet metal while, at the-same time, making it rigid enough to withstand. heavy shocks. This object is attained by utilizing an L-shaped body consisting of legs at right angles to each other and connected near their outer ends by a diagonal strut;

Another object is to facilitate manufacture, shipment, and storage of the blocking device and this object is accomplished by making the strut readily assembled with the legs of the angular body, at the time of use, by effecting the assembly through tongue and slot connections not requiring riveting or welding. This will permit the bodies to be nested together for shipment and the struts to be grouped together in bundles at substantial saving of space as would be necessary if the strut and body are assembled at the factory.

Another object is to form retaining prongs on the body for insertion into a wooden floor or the like with the prongs arranged to resist being forced out of the material in which they are driven by pressure of the yielding material.

These and other detail objects are attained by the structure illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figures 1, 2, and 3 are perspectives of the device showing successive stages in the assembling of the strut and body.

Figure 4 is a vertical section taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is in part a front view and in part a transverse section taken on the line 55 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a top view of the base leg of the body showing the manner of forming prongs by which the device may be secured in place in a wooden floor or like wall surface.

Figure 7 is a section similar to Figure 4 illustrating another form of the invention.

Figure 8 is a front view of the arrangement shown in Figure 7.

Figure 9 is a diagrammatic showing of a plurality of device bodies assembled for shipment.

The device shown in Figures 1-6 consists of an L-shaped body having a base leg 1 and an upright ladingengaging leg 2. The legs are disposed at right angles to each other and each has a slot 3 extending parallel with its end edge and spaced a short distance therefrom. A strut 4 extends diagonally of the legs across the angle between the legs and terminates in tongues 5. One of the tongues 5 may be inserted in one of the slots 3, as indicated in Figure 1, the other tongue placed adjacent the other slot, as shown in Figure 2, and the adjacent portion of the strut struck a sharp blow with a hammer (see Figure 3), causing the resilient metal to yield sufl'iciently to receive the tongue in the groove and then grip the tongue so as to prevent unintentional disassembly.

This action is facilitated by bending the tongues slightly from the plane of the channel web as best shown in Fig ure 4. The tongues, as thus arranged, possess some resiliency themselves and help to hold the strut in place.

Preferably strut 4 is of channel cross section having a main web 4a and marginal flanges 4b and the ends 6 of flanges 4b are cut diagonally of the length of the strut so as to seat against the body legs.

Preferably each. leg 1, 2. is flat adjacent to the end of the strut and is corrugated at 7 to form a continuous reinforcement of the body between the ends of the strut. Additional corrugations 8 may be formed in the body.

The legs are apertured at 13 to receive nails or screws for attaching the blocking device to the vehicle floor or the lading. Some of these apertures may be in corrugation 7 and covered by strut 4 when the latter is in the position shown in Figures 3, 4, and 5. By applying this strut after the body has been placed in operative position, it is possible to drive attaching elements through holes. in the center of the body which often is the preferred place for them.

The base leg 1 is provided with prongs 9 to be driven into a wooden floor or like wall surface to hold the device in position. The prongs are arranged in pairs and are formed by slitting the blade along parallel lines 10, Figure 6, and along a diagonal 11 extending between slits 10, and then bending each triangle thus formed about a respective bending line 12 until the prong is in a plane perpendicular to the base leg.

With this arrangement, each prong has one edge 9a perpendicular to the base leg and its other edge 9b inclined to the base leg, the direction of inclination of the two prongs being opposed to each other. Accordingly, when the prongs are driven into a wooden floor the tendency of the floor to squeeze the prong edges, and thereby force the prong out of the wood, is resisted to a greater extent than would be the case if both edges of each prong were inclined to the perpendicular.

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate a similar construction but specially adapted for heavy duty in which the body legs 21 and 22 correspond to those previously described, but the strut 24 is much wider relative to the body legs than the strut 4 previously described and extends throughout the major portion of the width of the legs. Each end of the strut has two tongues 25 spaced apart transversely of thestrut and arranged to enter slots in each leg of the body. The strut is of channel section and the ends of its flanges form shoulders abutting the legs as do the flanges of strut 4.

The metal forming the body upright leg 22 is slit at 30, before bending, to form a tab-like extension 31 of leg 21 projecting beyond the plane of leg 22 and provide a surface on which lading may rest to better hold the blocking angle to the floor. Strut 24 extends directly over the opening 32 formed by slits 30 and the body is not unduly weakened by this feature. The strut also extends over prongs 29 and the openings in the legs for attaching nails.

Legs 21, 22 are corrugated similarly to the legs of the device previously described but the middle corrugation 33 of leg 22 terminates above slits30 and the middle corrugation 34 of leg 21 continutes throughout the major portion of its extension 31.

A lading device as described above may be manufactured inexpensively and shipped with the body and strut disassembled, whereby a quantity of bodies may be nested one within the other as indicated in Figure 9. The struts may be bundled together for shipment. Such grouping of the bodies will require substantially less space for shipment than if the struts were permanently assembled with the bodies at the factory.

The details of the construction may be varied substantially without departing from the spirit of the invention and the exclusive use of those modifications coming within the scope of the claims is contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1 A lading blocking device comprising an L-shaped body with legs disposed substantially at a right angle to each other, and a strut of channel cross section, and including a main web having marginal flanges, the ends of the flanges forming shoulders abutting the body legs and the ends of the web extending beyond the ends of the flanges and forming tongues, the body legs being slotted to receive the tongues.

2. A lading blocking device as described in claim 1 in which the tongue forming ends of the web are inclined from the general plane of the web and possess resiliency and are distorted when forced into the slots to retain the strut assembled with the body legs.

3. A lading blocking device as described in claim 1 in which the strut opposing faces of the legs are flat adjacent the ends of the strut and the legs have a continuous reinforcing corrugation extending in the general plane of the strut and from one end of the strut to the other end of the strut.

4. A lading blocking angle comprising a strip of sheet metal of substantial width and bent about an intermediate transverse line to form legs at right angles to each other, there being a slot near the outer end of each leg extending parallel to the leg end, and a relatively narrow strut channel-shaped in cross section extending diagonally of the legs and having tongue-like terminals formed from the channel web received in said slots and having shoulders formed by the ends of the channel flanges and abutting the face of said legs.

5. A lading blocking device comprising an L-shaped body of sheet metal with legs disposed substantially at a right angle to each other, and a strut of sheet metal extending diagonally of the body legs across the angle between them and having an integral tongue projecting from each end and inserted through corresponding slots in the body legs, there being a tongue and slot connection between the ends of said strut and the adjacent portions of said body legs, at least one of the body legs having integral pointed prongs extending perpendicularly from its outer face substantially opposite to the connection between the leg and the diagonal strut.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 999,828 McNaughton Aug. 8, 1911 1,088,347 Koehler Feb. 24, 1914 1,533,352 Smith Apr. 14, 1925 1,757,866 Johnson May 6, 1930 2,058,716 Pagel Oct. 27, 1936 2,461,767 Peyton Feb. 15, 1949 

